Pump



March 27, 1956 c. FREYN 2,739,318

PUMP

Filed May 2, 1949 IN V EN TOR. C2125 FEM,

PUMP

Carl Freyn, Edinhurg, 1nd, assignor to Kennett Lloyd, Indianapolis, ind.

Application May 2, 1949, Serial No. 90,830

8 Claims. (Cl. 4-255) The present invention relates to a suction pump or device for pulling fluid through an opening in a surface, and comprises an improvement upon the somewhat similar device disclosed and claimed in my prior Patent Number 1,960,902 issued to me on May 29, 1934 for Suction Device. The primary object of my present invention is to provide a device capable of performing the functions of the device so disclosed in my said prior patent, but substantially easier and less expensive to build, less likely to get out of order, so constructed as to be more readily capable of repairs, and fully as effective, if not more effective, in operation.

Further objects of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.

To the accomplishment of the above and related objects, my invention may be embodied in the forms illustrated in the accompanying drawings, attention being called to the fact, however, that the drawings are illustrative only, and that change may be made in the specific constructions illustrated and described, so long as the scope of the appended claims is not violated.

Fig. 1 is a central vertical section through a pump embodying my invention, shown in a position of use;

Fig. 2 is a similar view taken during the act of collapsing the variable-volume chamber provided by the device; and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional perspective view, showing a modified form of means for assembling the parts of the pump.

it will be seen that my pump comprises primarily an elastic, hollow, bell-shaped body defining a variablevolume chamber 11 having an open end or mouth bounded by a deformable lip 12 which is preferably annular and disposed in a single plane normal to the axis of said body. Advantageously, said body may be a standard cup of the type customarily embodied in a drain plunger or plumbers friend, modified in the manner hereinafter explained to convert it from a pressureexerting device to a suction pump.

At its end opposite the open end and the lip 12, said body is formed to provide a socket 13, coaxial with the chamber 11 and opening through said opposite body end in the manner shown. Preferably, the outer portion, at least, of the socket 1 3 will be formed with heavy internal screw threads 14 for the threaded reception of the correspondingly threaded end of a handle or shaft 15. The body 10 will preferably be formed of rubber, synthetic rubber, or other material having highly elastic qualities, whereby the walls of the body may be readily flexed or deformed in the manner illustrated in Fig. 2, by axial pressure exerted through the handle 15, and whereby said walls will readily and forcibly spring back to the condition of Fig. 1 upon release of such pressure. Most of such materials readily lend themselves to the formation of the threads 14 in the process of molding the body.

The socket 13 is divided from the chamber 11 bya wall 16 which defines the base of said socket and which is penetrated by a restricted perforation 1'7 which will preferably lie in the common axial line of the chamber 11 and socket 13. A disc or plate 18 is supported within the open mouth of the chamber 11, said plate conforming in contour to the lip 12 and having an external perimeter slightly less than the internal perimeter of said lip. Preferably, said plate will be readily flexible, and preferably it will be formed of material identical with, or similar to, the material selected for construction of the body 10.

A flexible tendon 19 has one end anchored at 20 on the plate 18 and has its opposite end portion threaded through the perforation 17 and projecting into the socket 13 where it is suitably anchored. Said tendon is preferably fixed to the plate 18 at the center of said plate, and, in the preferred embodiment of my invention, the material of the tendon and of the plate 18 will be such that said tendon end may be secured to the plate 18 by vulcanization.

The eifective length of the tendon, below the wall 16, will be such as to suspend the plate 18 normally substantially in the plane of the lip 12 in the manner shown in Fig. 1, and of course this effective length may be adjusted by shifting the position of the tendon 19 in the perforation 17, disposing a greater or a lesser length of the tendon in the socket 13. Since the wall 16 forms the base of the socket 13, it will be seen that the handle 15 may be turned down in said socket to clamp that portion of the tendon 19 disposed in said socket between the handle and the wall 16 thereby retaining the tendon 19 against any withdrawal from the socket.

The tendon 19 may, of course, be vulcanized in place in the perforation 17, or its upper end may lie freely in the socket 13, dependence being placed upon the resilient grip of the walls of the perforation 17 on the tendon and the clamping effect above described to retain said tendon in adjusted position; but I prefer to form a knot 21, or otherwise to enlarge, the portion of said tendon disposed in said socket, and then to turn the handle down upon such enlargement, in the manner shown in Fig. 1. In this manner, 1 attain absolute security when the handle is in proper position, and substantial security even if the handle is inadvertently or mischievously loosened; and yet I facilitate removal and replacement of the plate-andtendon assembly in case the plate or the tendon or both should become worn or broken.

Another means, which I presently believe to be preferable, for retaining the tendon. 19 in position relative to the wall 16, is illustrated in Fig. 3. -A headed tubular rivet 24, carrying a washer 25, is entered in the perforation 17 from the chamber 11, the rivet 24 being long enough so that it completely traverses the perforation 17 and that its upper end projects a substantial distance into the socket 13. Now, a washer 26 is mounted on the projecting end of the rivet 24, to rest on the upper surface of the wall 16. The tendon 19 is now threaded through the rivet 24 and is so located therein that the disc 18 will hang freely substantially in the plane of the lip 12. Now, the portion of the rivet 2 located in the socket 13 is transaxially collapsed, as at 27, to reduce its transaxial dimension, in one direction, to a value less than the normal transaxial dimension of the tendon 19. concomitantly, the transaxial dimension of that portion of the rivet will be expanded in an opposite direction to a value exceeding the diameter of the opening through the washer 26. This deformation of the material of the rivet 24 will, of course, cause the tendon 19 to be gripped and thus retained against axial movement relative to the rivet; and will prevent relative axial movement between the rivet and the washer 26. The rivet 24 may be made of any suitable deformable material of substantial rigidity, such as sheet brass or other suitable sheet metal.

The pump is intended primarily for use in producing an outward flow of fluid through an opening 22, such as a sink drain or the like, in a surface 23, though it may, of course, be used to produce a similar fluid flow through any opening which can be covered by the plate 18 in any surface upon WillCh the lip 12 can find seat. Such operation will, of course, tend to produce a vacuum beyond such opening if the opening leads to an otherwise-sealed, or partially-sealed space.

Since the plate 18 is suspended on the tendon 19 sub-, stantially in the plane of the lip 12, said plate will cover the opening 22 when the lip is supported on the surface 23 in a position to surround and enclose said opening. Now, if the handle 15 is axially depressed, the body will be collapsed in the manner illustrated in Fig. 2 thereby reducing the volume of the chamber 11. Since the plate 13 covers and seals the opening 22, the air in the chamber 11 will thereby be compressed; and, the lip 12 being elastically deformable, the air within said chamber will force itself between said lip and the surface 23.

When, now, the handle is released, the inherent elasticity of the body 10 will cause it to reassume the condition illustrated in Fig. l. The plate 13, being unrestrained against upward movement, will be lifted, by' the pressure differential between the drain interior and the interior of the expanding chamber 11, and fluid will flow from the interior of the drain into the chamber 11. As this cycle is repeated, at relatively high degree of vacuum will be created in the drain, to draw therefrom foreign matter which may be clogging such drain.

The simplicity of the device of the present application, the ease with which it can be manufactured and maintained or repaired, audits freedom from disorders, as compared to the structure disclosed in my said prior patent, will be readily appreciated from the above description.

I claim as my invention:

1. A device for pulling fluid through an opening in a surface, comprising an elastic, hollow, bell-shaped body having an open end defined by a deformable lip, and having a restricted perforation at its opposite end located substantially at the axis of said body, a flexible, imperforate plate having external dimensions slightly less than the internal dimensions of said lip, and a flexible tendon having one end secured to said plate and having its opposite end threaded through said perforation and fixed therein to support said plate normally substantially in the plane of said lip.

2. A device for pulling fluid through an opening in a surface, comprising an elastic, hollow, bell-shaped body having an open end defined by a deformable lip, and having a restricted perforation at its opposite end located substantially at the axis of said body, a sealing plate formed of material capable of vulcanization having external dimensions slightly less than the internal dimensions of said lip, and a tendon of substantially similar material having one end vulcanized to said plate and having its opposite end threaded through said perforation and fixed therein to support said plate normally substantially in the plane of said lip.

3. A pump comprising an elastic, hollow body having an open end and further having a socket coaxial with said open end and opening oppositely with respect thereto, a wall dividing the interior of said socket from the interior of said body and having a restricted perforation therethrough, a plate substantially conforming in contour to said open end and somewhat smaller perimetrally than said open end, and a flexible tendon having one end fixed to said plate and having its opposite end threaded through said perforation, the portion of said tendon located Within said socket being enlarged in at least one transverse dimension to prevent its passage through. said perforation, and said tendon normally supporting said plate substantially in the plane of said open end.

4. A pump comprising an elastic, hollow body having an open end and further having a socket coaxial with said open end and opening oppositely with respect thereto, a wall dividing the interior of said socket from the interior of said body and having a restricted perforation therethrongh, a plate substantially conforming in contour to said open end and somewhat smaller perimetrally than said open end, a flexible tendon having one end fixed to said plate and having its opposite end threaded through said perforation, and an element fixedly seated in said socket and bearing against that portion of said tendon located in said socket to clamp the same against said wall and to inhibit movement of said tendon through said perforation, said tendon normally supporting said plate substantially in the plane of said open end.

5. A device for pulling fluid through an opening in a surface comprising an elastic, hollow, bell-shaped body having an open end defined by a deformable lip and having a restricted perforation at its opposite end located substantially at the axis of said body, a sleeve of deformable material of substantial rigidity located in said perforation and transversing the same from end to end, a flexible plate having external dimensions slightly less than the internal dimensions of said lip, a flexible tendon having one end secured to said plate and having its opposite end threaded through said sleeve, said sleeve being deformed, after location of said tendon therein, to retain said tendon against movement relative to said sleeve, and means restraining said sleeve against axial movement in said perforation, whereby said plate is supported normally substantially in the plane of said lip.

6. The device of claim 5 in which said sleeve projects beyond the end of said perforation remote from said lip and in which the projecting portion of said sleeve is transaxially collapsed upon said tendon to a dimension less than the normal transaxial dimension of said tendon to retain said tendon.

7. A pump comprising an elastic, hollow body having I an open end and further having a socket coaxial with said open end and opening oppositely with respect thereto, a wall dividing the interior of said socket from the interior of said body and having a restricted perforation therethrough, a sleeve of deformable material of substantial rigidity located in said perforation, transversing the same from end to end, and having a portion projecting into said socket, a plate substantially conforming in contour to said open end and somewhat smaller perimetrally than said open end, a flexible tendon having one end fixed to said plate and having its opposite end threaded through said sleeve, said projecting portion of said sleeve being deformed, after location of said tendon therein, to retain said tendon against movement relative to said sleeve, and means retaining said sleeve against axial movement in said perforation, whereby said plate is supported normally substantially in the plane of said lip.

8. The pump of claim 7 in which said last-named means includes a washer snugly telescoped on said sleeve within said socket and bearing against said wall, and in which that portion of said sleeve within said socket is transaxially collapsed upon said tendon in one direction to a dimension less than the normal transaxial dimension of said tendon and is transaxially enlarged in another direction to a dimension greater than that of the opening through said washer. 5

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,960,902 Freyn May 29, 1934 1,972,144 Stephenson Sept. 4, 1934 FOREIGN PATENTS 506,883 France June 8, 1920 539,463 Germany Nov. 28, 1931 

